By Jack Tibbetts

Copyright derryjournal

Project Lighthouse aims to empower young people by providing them with free, high-level theatrical training and peacebuilding workshops to enable them not only to discuss peace. A theatrical and cultural partnership between Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo, the Millennium Forum in Derry and the John and Pat Hume Foundation, Project Lighthouse will aim to build understanding between people aged 18-25. The project has been awarded €202,000 in funding, supported by PEACEPLUS which is managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The project is funded though the Sligo County Council PEACEPLUS Local Co-designed Action Plan. Thirty young people from Sligo and Derry will become ‘Cultural Champions’, considering what the process of peace means to their generation. Participants will live cross-border in each others’ communities for one month, working with local artists, groups and educators to explore identity, personal views and prejudice, conflict and peace. Together, they will develop a performance inspired by their experiences, as well as a television documentary, digital education packs and resources for schools. The performance will be live in person and broadcast from Hawk’s Well Theatre on the International Day of Peace Monday, September 21, 2026. Project Lighthouse will also act as a Research and Development phase in preparation for the third part in the peacebuilding trilogy, ‘The White Dove.’ The conclusion of the Peacemakers trilogy, which started with the critically acclaimed White Handkerchief, followed by Hume: Beyond Belief, will be The White Dove, premiering in 2028. The White Dove will be staged at Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo and the Millennium Forum, Derry and will be broadcast live to a global audience in 2028. Sligo artist Bob Kelly and Derry artist Abby Oliveira will deliver Project Lighthouse initially. The White Dove will be led by Hawk’s Well Director Kieran Griffiths, with a design team to be appointed at a later date. Project Lighthouse has said that it is also creating a ‘new peace anthem.’ A spokesperson for Project Lighthouse said the anthem will embody dignity, respect and patience, married with curiosity rather than fear. The Cultural Champions will go through an artistic process with Bob Kelly and Abby Oliveira and the composer of the White Handkerchief music and songs, Brian O’Doherty, to craft an anthem with and for them. It will close the Project Lighthouse public event in 2026. Kieran Griffths, Director of Hawk’s Well Theatre and both The White Handkerchief and Hume, said, “It is too well known that people living either side of the Irish border may be only a matter of minutes apart, but can still be pulled further away from each other by history, beliefs and assumptions. Project Lighthouse aims to bring people closer together, drawing out and harnessing personal stories from young people born during an era of peace and then training and mentoring those same people to bring their stories to stage and screen. Young people’s preoccupations and ideas of conflict may be personal and have absolutely nothing at all to do with the Troubles, religion and historic divisions. We are excited to find out what is on people’s minds today. Our project will result in young people celebrating difference, finding common ground and building empathy through the arts, while receiving high quality training to enable them to share their own personal experiences with audiences.” More information can be found here: https://www.hawkswell.com/whats-on/behind-the-scenes/decide